


Convalescence

by gladiatorAviator



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fic, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 15:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18813526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladiatorAviator/pseuds/gladiatorAviator
Summary: Blue's been sick before. But nothing was this bad, this absolute, that left him so close to death. He thinks he hears things, he sees things, but when Red speaks to him he figures even his hallucinations couldn't be this good at faking what Red says to him.





	Convalescence

**Author's Note:**

> _things you said that I wasn't meant to hear_  
>  another prompt fic from a wonderful anon on tumblr!

It was so sudden, a crack against his skull, bile rising up and out of the throat, something heavy weighing down until it became something so large, so massive, that there is nothing that can be done besides stop resisting and letting it overtake him. Fizzling in and out of consciousness, black and white flashing in front of his eyes as he thrashes in his sleep, as he tries to sweat his way through being awake.

Blue heaves a breath. He feels his entire body shudder weakly with it.

He’s been sick before. It’s usually not something this bad—it’s usually just something that makes him feel just a little bit weaker for about a week or two, maybe confining him to bed for a day or so, but he believes his body is strong enough to eject the illness like wiping grass off his shoulder, like swiping dust off the table. But this, this is something so entirely different Blue can’t remember the last time he felt like he could lift his hand, much less his sword. His vision is nothing but smears of colors, feverish hallucinations flitting across his mind, his hearing, his skin. He thinks he can feel their touch, feel the way they talk to him amid the smoke that’s clouding his mind, but he closes his eyes and when they open again they’re gone. Disappeared into nothingness, into the haze that keeps pressing its way further and further into him.

He tries to speak, whenever he thinks he sees them, but words were never his strong point and there’s no way he can do the basics when his strong points have been dulled down to rounded edges, too blunt to be of any effectiveness. He doesn’t know if sound even exists to him anymore, not in this place that’s so full of his harsh, grating breaths and weakening heartbeats. He drifts, in and out of darkness and when he opens his eyes he thinks he can see small rounded bug-like _things,_ with eyes that bleed red and sharp mandibles ready to pick away at his wasting skin. He shouts—or at least tries to, but he feels something heavy in his hand anyway and something freezing-hot on his forehead, and words try to form in his inner ear but the sounds disappears before he can make sense of it. The grip in his hand reaches tighter and the creatures seems to back down, hissing daggers into his head and why is that the only sound he can hear—

“Blue?” he hears. His name. His name, a question? It confuses him, why someone besides these tiny monsters would be trying to scream out his name. He’s still _him,_ right? Are they forgetting him? Is he forgetting himself?

But that voice... so gentle, so sweet. Blue purses cracked dry lips. This wasn’t Hylia beckoning him to the afterlife, was it? 

“Blue,” the voice speaks again, soft, a whisper. “Please, you can pull through this.” He can feel pressure around his hand, squeezing it gently. Instinct tells him to squeeze back, and he does. He feels the presence above him hitch a breath. “Blue? Can you hear me?”

Blue looks up, dazed, but his eyes can’t focus and all he sees is a mess of red and gold. Ah. So Din decided to take him instead. Of course he would never be good enough for Hylia to take him. He never had the greatest manners, the friendliest heart, the true spirit of a real honest knight. He was a lesser, yes. He was lesser compared to... compared to...

Blue bites at the inside of his cheek, and he doesn’t flinch when he tastes blood spread across his tongue. Where was he again? Did he know anyone else besides the creatures that keep edging at the corners of his vision, the ones with the red eyes and wicked claws? They were keeping him safe, right? They were protecting him from _something,_ perhaps that persistent thing that thundered against his chest and the air that rattled so weakly in his throat. What a nuisance, those were. He should let them take care of him. They would stop those annoying _things_ that kept pressing down on him, that kept trying to burst out of him.

“Blue? Please...” Blue feels something cold and wet splash across his cheek, shocking him to lucidity for a quick heartbeat. No, no, those things were monsters and they were trying to kill him. They want his life. He needs to stay strong. He can’t abandon them. They need him as much as he needs them. 

He hisses a breath through his teeth. He knows the person above him. He does, he does, he does, but if that’s the case why does it keep escaping him? He can hardly think through the fog, and he wonders if those creatures are already eating away at his brain, turning him into a husk from the inside out. He shakes his head, blinking rapidly, and he can’t see them anymore. No, wait, they’ve moved to the left of his vision. He turns his head to study them. 

“What are you seeing? Can you talk to me? Please, Blue. Please. I’m so scared.” The voice is still a whisper, but Blue can hear it so clearly, the clearest thing he’s heard in days. Weeks. Months. How long has he been like this? He wonders idly if he ever lived at all, and this was the true punishment for breaking the rules and pulling the Four Sword, if everything he thinks happened was all just a dream and here he was now for real, stuck in this suffering wasteland where he could hardly even think, much less process what was going on around him.

“Blue! Breathe, breathe, keep breathing,” the voice above him sobs and Blue obeys, taking in a deep breath through his nose, reigniting his lungs. “You can’t leave me. You _can’t!_ ”

The grip around his hand tightens and Blue feels a jolt to his chest, shocking him awake. _Red,_ he remembers. _Red’s talking to me._ Of course. Red’s been here next to his side this whole time, hasn’t he? Red... 

He tries to look up at him, to focus in on his face, to say his name, to do _anything_ to let him know that he knew who he was, that he was trying to fight away whatever it is that wanted to end him, that he was trying so very _very_ hard to keep himself alive. After all, there were so many things he still wanted to do. He can’t let himself choke out here, he can’t let himself die to the bugs that tried to swarm him that probably weren’t even real in the first place.

“You can’t hear me, can you?” Red asks softly, brushing his thumb over his hand. “Oh, Blue,” he breathes, and Blue can feel soft lips against his forehead. He tries to protest, but he can’t move, he can’t speak, there’s something that lays heavy on his tongue and his body feels like lead. He groans out instead, eyes squeezing shut as a rattling cough overtakes him. Spittle coats his lips, and Blue hopes that it’s not staining him red. It’s swiped off of him soon enough, and Red moves him so his head is resting in his lap instead, his hands brushing slowly through his hair. He feels himself relax, the monsters fleeing the corners of his vision. A slow breath slides through his lips, and he can feel his heartbeat strengthen in his chest.

“Whatever you’re seeing, I hope they’re gone,” Red murmurs. “They seem to frighten you. I wish I could fight them off for you, to be the strong boy you deserve.” He bows his head over Blue, and Blue wishes he could reach up to touch his cheek. “I need you to pull through his,” Red whispers fervently. “I did not just spend most of my entire life savings for us only to not be able to p-propose to you. I have the matching rings at home. I was going to do it once we got back but then you got so sick and we’ve been stuck out here.” Red sighs, taking a shaky breath. “Vio should be coming back soon with help. You just need to stick it out until he gets back. Blue... I love you so much. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be with you. Please, you have to make it through this. I’m so scared, Blue. I don’t want to lose you.”

Blue takes in a shaky breath. He wants to say _something,_ he wants to let Red know that he doesn’t want to lose him either, that he wants to be together with him forever, that he will cherish and love him until the end of time. But, he can’t speak still, only take in rattly breaths that vibrate through his entire core as he exhales. He _can_ keep himself breathing for Red, though. He can stay strong enough to survive this. All for Red. All for Red.

Red keeps talking to him softly, but his words are returning back into lightning-static, and each flash of light keeps the monsters away. Blue imagines Red as a being of light, hands forward and warding off the creatures, keeping him safe, keeping him alive. He heaves a sigh, closing his eyes. He can sleep for now. Red will keep him safe.

\---

Days had passed so slowly, too quickly, and when Vio returned with the proper medication to treat him it took Blue all of a day or two to start regaining his strength, and now they’re able to start off again. It’s slow going, but at least they’re able to move, and soon enough they are only a few days away from home. Red hasn’t let go of his hand since, squeezing it intermittently as if to make sure he’s still there. Blue squeezes back each time, and he leans heavily on his shoulders. He focuses on counting his steps, quietly in fours, in order to forget about how he feels, what he saw, what Red surely did not say to him.

They stop in town, paying for an inn even though Blue insists he no longer needs it. Truthfully, he doesn’t mind, and the mattresses feel like heaven on his sore body, the blankets warm and clean, and Blue can’t bring himself to think about sleeping another blasted night on the cold, hard ground, rather than these real beds with blankets that smell like home, nice and soft and not smelling of dirt or gore. He buries himself in the blankets, sighing as he lets his body let go of the tension he’s been carrying around all day, the way the edges of his mouth ache with him pretending he’s much stronger than he actually is, the screaming in his still sick-sore legs that struggle to carry him, the way his heart still pounds against his throat and eyes as he pushes himself much farther than he should when he’s still recovering. He cocoons himself, facing the wall and ready to let go when he hears the door creak open.

“Blue?” Red’s voice is small, hesitant.

Blue lifts his head, and whatever thing he was going to say leaves him as he sees the tear tracks spilling their way down Red’s cheeks. “Red?” He flips over, sitting up slowly.

Red ducks his head, sniffing as he alights on the side of the bed. “C-can I sleep with you tonight?” he asks, voice barely a whisper. “I keep having terrible dreams...”

“Oh, Red,” Blue breathes, and he lifts a blanket up so Red can huddle in right next to him. He can feel the blush spread across his cheeks as Red all but crushes himself against him. Blue wraps his arms around Red’s waist, snaking a hand up to pet through his hair. “I’m okay now,” he says softly. “You don’t have to worry anymore.”

Red flinches, burying himself deeper. “I was so scared I was going to lose you,” he says softly. “I’ve never seen you look so-so close to death before.” He looks up at him with wide eyes. “I didn’t know if you could hear me and most of the time you just looked so terrified. I hardly slept,” he admits, bowing his head. “With how much you struggled to breathe, and just everything about it, I thought that if I slept I’d wake up and you wouldn’t.” Blue feels him shudder, burying his face into his collarbone. “I keep having dreams where that happens.”

“Red,” Blue whispers hoarsely, hand brushing through his hair. “I’m so sorry.” He pulls Red closer, putting his head on top of Red’s as he thinks. “Here.” Blue moves to his back, taking Red and pulling his head up to his chest. “You hear that? My heart’s still beating, okay? I’m still alive. I’m gonna be okay. _We’re_ gonna be okay.” He bites his lip, fingers tangling behind Red’s ear. “You kept me safe and alive during all that. I kept seeing things but you would scare them off. You kept talking to me and reminding me that I wasn’t meant to die so soon. And when you told me you wanted to propose, I-I really didn’t want to lose that. I wanna marry you, Red.”

Red pulls away from him, eyes wide as he looks at him, mouth opening and closing before his ducks back into Blue’s collarbone with a bright blush. “Y-you weren’t supposed to remember that!” he wails. “I thought you weren’t able to hear me!”

Blue laughs quietly, taking Red’s head in his hands. “I heard everything,” he smiles. “I love you, Red.” 

Red tilts his head into Blue’s hands, face still covered in his blush. “It was supposed to be a surprise-” he cuts off with a squeak as Blue pulls him forward into a kiss, lips meeting electric. When Red pulls back, his eyes are half lidded and he sighs happily.

“I know I probably shouldn’t be doing that yet,” Blue ducks his head, blushing. “I’ve missed it, though. I love you so much, Red.”

“I love you too, Blue,” Red smiles back at him, pulling him into another kiss. “I’ve missed it, too.” He cuddles into Blue’s chest with a contented sigh. “You make me so happy,” he mumbles against him. “Don’t let go of me?”

“I won’t.” Blue runs a hand through his hair, and kisses the top of his head. “I love you.” His body releases the tension as he lays his head on the pillow, fingers tangling idly through Red’s hair. He waits until Red’s breath evens out, puffing slow and hot over his collarbone. Taking in a deep breath, he feels the air fill his chest, now healthy and hale. He doesn’t cough when he exhales. His heart beats strong again and he feels safe with Red curled next to him. Those monsters he saw can’t bother him anymore, not with Red so close, and he figures he’ll finally have a peaceful night to himself too. 

Slowly, he moves his left hand in front of his face, spreading out his fingers and imagines a silver band encircling his ring finger, a matching one on Red’s hand and he smiles happily, his heart rising with a gentle heat. Together forever with Red? It brings a special kind of heat to his cheeks, a swirling band of embers in his heart. He closes his eyes, and the smile refuses to leave his lips.

After all, he has something wonderful to look forward to.


End file.
